Barry Ames, Oscar Swan, and Ed Connerley’s Trip from Pittsburgh to Washington

On May 22-25, 2008, Barry Ames, Ed Connerley, and Oscar Swan rode from Barry’s house in Squirrel Hill to Ed’s house on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C via the Great Allegheny Passage and Chesapeake & Ohio bike trails. They would be glad to share experiences and answer questions about what to take and what to look out for. We totaled some 345 miles in 3 ½ days, more than the nominal 334 miles because of detours and travels off trail for meals and lodging.

Barry rode a Surley trail bike, Ed had a cross bike, and Oscar rode a steel road bike. Everyone rode 30mm tires, which seemed about right. Only a few places would have called for anything wider. The entire C&O Trail (134 miles) is not well graded or maintained. Lots of rocks, ruts, roots, and patches of mud. Barry and Ed developed saddle sores by the end of the second day. The fact that Oscar didn’t is a tribute to the long-distance riding properties of a well-worn Brooks leather saddle.

As to mechanical problems, Oscar had two flats, and Barry’s rear rack kept shaking loose for not being put together with lock washers, but that was all.

1st. Day. Left in a cold drizzle. Lunch in Perryopolis at Meidel’s Restaurant. Snack in Ohiopyle, overnight in Confluence at the Parker House ($70 per person), dinner at the Mountain Grill, breakfast at the Sisters Café, all fine. About 86 miles.

2nd Day. Snack at Meyersdale, lunch in Frostburg, MD at the Mountain Café (?). Not stopping in Cumberland, we look unsuccessfully for a rest stop all the way to the night’s stay in lovely Little Orleans at the highly recommended Little Orleans Lodge ($40 per person). Dinner at the unforgettable Bill’s Place. Highlight of the day: walking the nearly mile-long Paw Paw tunnel through mud puddles in the dark. Steve at the lodge cooked up a great breakfast. About 108 miles.

3rd Day. Snack break at Hancock and shopping for saddle cream. We switched to the Western Maryland rail-trail for 20 miles. Lunch in Williamsport at the wonderful Desert Rose Café, a hippie run by Desert Rose herself, along with her mother. This was the most monotonous stretch of the trip, with the canal on one side, the raging Potomac River on the other, and nothing but trail, trail, trail. Overnight in picturesque Harpers Ferry, WV at the Comfort Inn ($90 per person), which had a continental breakfast. Dinner that night at the upscale Anvil Restaurant, the only place in walking distance from the motel. About 75 miles.

4th Day. We plow on into Washington, encountering very heavy pedestrian traffic the closer we got (it was Memorial Day Week-End). A snack break at White’s Ferry, and lunch in Georgetown at an Au Bon Pain. Picked up rental car at Washington National Airport for a quick trip home Sunday evening. Around 65 miles.

Photos follow below.

The morning of May 22 (Thursday) was cold (low 40s) and promised rain, which never materialized. Photo taken at Beechwood and Wilkims Ave.

Barry at Ohiopyle

Oscar in the gathering darkness at Confluence, where we stayed the night at the Parker House.

Ed peering over the edge of the longest viaduct on the trail, south of Meyersdale.

IS81 as seen from the longest viaduct on the Allegheny Passage.

We reach the Continental Divide just short of the Pennsylvania-Maryland border.

The Big Savage Tunnel, on the way out of Pennsylvania. No picture taken of the most exciting tunnel on the trip, the unlighted one at Paw Paw, WV.

Ed and Barry have dismounted for some reason. Probably the steepness of the slope (2% at least) out of Pennsylvania has finally gotten to them.

Welcome to Maryland, where we cross the unguarded border into the South.

Ed and Barry dine at one of two hippy vegan cafés encountered along the way, here in Frostburg, MD.

A must-stop place on your travels along the C&O: Little Orleans, Maryland.

Along the C&O Canal Towpath. A lock on the raging (no kidding) upper Potomac River.

A quieter stretch of the Potomac.

Looking downstream on the Potomac at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

Rapids at Great Falls, about 25 miles out of Washington, D.C.

Barry and Oscar at Great Falls.

This is what an awful lot of the C&O Canal Towpath looks like: a swampy former canal on your left, a trail stretching interminably ahead, trees and mosquitoes everywhere, and the Potomac (here out of sight) on your right.

Oscar and Barry at the Washington, D.C. terminus of the C&O Canal. We omit the story of Barry running over a seven-year-old boy after picking up the rental car home, because that really doesn’t belong to the trip proper.